Nicola’s Pumpkin and blue cheese fondue

Nicola’s Pumpkin and blue cheese fondue

My friend Nicola has been playing with last month’s pumpkin recipe a little but to great success as you can see in the pictures.  She made a couple of small modifications from the one we published a couple of weeks ago and I thought they would be good to share.  The first trick that Nicola added was using a suitable size dish to act as a template for removing the top – simply cutting round at about 45 degrees to make the removable lid.  The seeds and the stringy interior were then scooped out as before.  This was a slightly smaller pumpkin than the one used before and as sometimes happens the inside is a little more solid, but other than that the technique is just the same.  You can see in the top picture the first layer of sourdough bread chunked and added.

The first real difference that was introduced was the use of the French blue cheese ‘Fourme D’Ambert’ which itself has a lovely creamy texture and a soft creamy taste with a little bit of a ‘bite’.  The beer used on this occasion was a German wheat beer which works really well in this sort of recipe and finally that glorious view of the fondue beginning to pour over the edge of the cooked pumpkin.  In the original recipe we suggested leaving a little space at the top of the pumpkin so when it cooks and becomes that little bit smaller you don’t lose all that glorious filling – well Nicola has nailed it here, nothing lost, but the fondue just beginning to escape and get that lovely toasted finish.                         ……………………Perfect!!!

 

Blue cheese and sourdough bread Fondue in a pumpkin pot

November 13, 2018
: 2-4
: 30 min
: 2 hr
: V Easy

Blue cheese and sourdough bread Fondue in a cooked pumpkin pot

By:

Ingredients
  • Pumpkin 1.5kg
  • Single cream 200ml
  • Wheat beer 250ml
  • Garlic clove crushed and chopped
  • 250g Fourme D’Ambert (or other creamy blue cheese)
  • Thick slices stale sourdough bread ripped into chunks
Directions
  • Step 1 Cut round the top of the pumpkin at around 45 degrees to make a replaceable lid. Remove the seeds and the loose stringy inside (don’t throw the seeds away as they can be toasted later).
  • Step 2 Tear the Sourdough bread into large chunks and add a layer to the bottom of the pumpkin.  To this add some of the crumbled Fourme D’Ambert mix.  
  • Step 3 Mix the single cream and the beer in a large jug and add a little grated nutmeg, a crushed and chopped garlic clove and some salt and pepper and mix well.  Pour some of this over the top of the cheese and bread and then repeat with further layers until the pumpkin is at least two thirds, but not completely full.  Finish off with a layer of  cheese and some extra grated nutmeg.  
  • Step 4 Set up the Big Green Egg for indirect cooking with the platesetter in place and the feet upright.  Add a little smoking wood and set the temperature to around 140C. Sit the Pumpkin in a shallow roasting tin and put on the BGE.
  • Step 5 After around 90 mins the pumpkin will have softened enough to be able to spoon the flesh from the skin.  
  • Step 6 Serve with a little more crusty bread and dig out the bread-cheese-pumpkin mix with a spoon and fork

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